sonicrocketman

I feel the same and have gone through a similar journey.

Just posting this so others can be reminded to donate the archive (no association by me, just a fan).

Part of me likes the cliche Claude voice. Not because it's good, but because I can immediately recognize it. When I see it in the Claude app/code then it's fine. In the wild it's a sign to me that I shouldn't keep reading.

Original full title (too long): It is a sign of the times that Amazon gets to call this fair use while huge corporations try to sue the Internet Archive out of business.

Tao's Rule of Thumb (which applies very well to software):

> My own suggested rule of thumb: if the authors cannot convincingly demonstrate that they are able to give a clear, expert-level talk on their results, one that is correct and properly attributed, then the result should not be published. A proof that no human can properly explain should be viewed as incomplete, even if it has been formally verified.

Anyone else print their white papers before reading? (At least the short ones)

Before it gets away from me, I'd just like to reiterate my thanks to the Royal Society of London for privileging me, a lil-old blogger, with the chance to unveil this letter to the public.

This has been my experience as well. I’ve also been thinking a lot about Terrence Tao and his chats and presentation.

Loving my self-hosted model in general, but here's one more reason.

Author here. Great to see this making its way up HN! I've been thinking about this topic for a while and it's nice to see people engaging with it.

Well and succinctly said.

Apropos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG6NNnoNC80

Oh wow, I think I remember learning about this in middle school. I totally forgot.

Ooh will check out! Thanks!

That's lovely! I do the same now with a few friends. Postcards, letters, etc.. It's a blast. Just got some Strathmore letter paper too. So much nicer than what I was using.

Good to know. TBH I haven't checked. I have some cartridges too (for a different, cheaper fountain pen) but if none of those work, I'll scout for options.

What got you into writing letters?

Writing letters is so much fun. I have a blog post in the works about that too. Glad to hear you enjoy it.

I'll def be looking around. I have some bottled ink already, but this is a huge concern. Hopefully the fine tip has decent portion control. That helps a lot.

It's basically just designing a dictionary data type. I recall the Python devs talking about a lot of this stuff from the early days.

Everything is related.

I've blogged about this before too!

https://brianschrader.com/archive/the-practicals-of-writing-...

But I'm in the process of upgrading my pen. I ordered a TWISB ECO.

I wrote a thing about a related idea nearly a decade later (2022) and it still holds. Email is great.

https://brianschrader.com/archive/on-the-web-the-best-outcom...

Thanks for reading the source post!

This is a valid concern, I think. However I'd point out that extraneous detail and world building are not the same. If information serves the purpose of explaining the world then by definition it isn't extraneous. Though adding information certainly reaches a point of diminishing returns at some point.

I think the point of Chekhov's gun is more that unless you can justify the inclusion of the info, then it is extraneous and extraneous info should be removed.

You are too kind

I posted on Mastodon today about how helpful tools like this are for building mathematical intuition. Animations are no substitute, but they can also do what lecture never could.

Mastodon post: https://mastodon.social/@sonicrocketman/113884920858897541

I thought exactly the same thing.

I’m left-handed too, and I’ve always felt that I struggled with handwriting partly because of that.

Though after smearing my hands with ink for the past 12 months, I can say that with some practice cursive has turned out to be fine. These days even the dip pen I’m using dries faster than I’m writing.

I've solved this in several ways that depend on the need.

1. Multiple small notebooks. I love ~50pg, 5"x7" lined notebooks. They're cheap, and portable. Just get one for each project.

2. I usually allow myself 1-2 extra pages for longer thoughts or things that will require follow-up. That almost always works.

3. Indexes. Set aside 20pgs at the front (or back) for a table of contents. I do this with my longer notebooks (~200pgs) and I never have trouble finding things. If you need to continue a section later on call it "Project X (cont.)"

I feel like #3 is something that generations before us knew implicitly that we've forgotten.

[edit: grammar]

[Edit: Addendum]

Also, always date your entries. That helps a lot.

For my daily-driver, I use a Schneider Fountain. The exact two I have aren't made anymore, but I linked the most similar one I could find.

The dip pen is actually just one of those almost-novelty quill-looking ones. I cut off the ornamentation and just use it as a regular dip pen. Works great. It came with a set of nibs including one that is basically just a traditional fountain pen. That nib is the one I use the most.

Importantly, dip nibs often splotch ink because they're coated with oils by the manufacturer. I found out much later that you need to prep the nibs before you use them (either by wiping the oils off or lightly burning it off, which is what I did). That fixed the splotchy-ness for good.

Lately I've been considering some nice wooden dip pens.

Fountain Pen: https://www.amazon.com/Schneider-Fountain-Light-Barrel-16820...

Nib Prep Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE12e60BA6E

[Edit: Addendum]

Cursive felt slower to me at first, but now writing those print samples in the post felt slower than the cursive sample. It's really important to just practice the strokes. I spent an hour a day for almost two weeks just writing "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" over an over to get the strokes right.

I was already somewhat familiar with cursive, and I knew it was a ~more proper~ way to write in that cursive is designed to lessen strains on the hand and be easier to write at speed. Also I wanted to. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯